Mheetu's Brother
by The Rogue Lion
Summary: Mheetu always wanted a big brother—a brother who would play with him when nobody else would. He wanted someone to look up to. AU


**A/N:** I apologize now for any spelling mistakes or typos you may find. I direct the blame to autocorrect.

* * *

A young, tan colored cub stalked through a patch of tall grass. He did his best to keep quiet as to not reveal his location to his prey. Luckily, for the cub, his prey wasn't paying attention. It was sitting down, barely moving. His prey, however, was also surrounded by its fellow companions. The cub figured that they weren't paying attention either.

_That's right, _he thought. _Keep talking to each other and stay distracted until I..._ "Pounce!" the cub suddenly shouted. He leapt out of the tall grass and tackled his prey in the side.

"Ow!" it shouted. His prey glanced down by its side to see the cub. "Mheetu!"

"What!" the cub cried in response.

"What was that for?! Mom told you not to cause trouble!" his prey yelled.

"I wasn't trying to cause trouble! I was just practicing my hunting!"

"I am not some sort of prey! I am your older sister!" his pre—sister snarled.

Mheetu pouted. "But Mom lets me practice on her!" he protested.

"Then go practice on Mom!" his sister retorted. "Go somewhere else! Quit bothering us!"

"But—"

"Now!" she shouted.

Mheetu's ears flattened against his skull and he dropped his head in defeat. A sigh escaped from his mouth as he walked away. "You're never any fun..." he mumbled.

The light tan lioness that was his sister rolled her blue eyes at the comment. She turned to her friends nearby and said, "My brother is such a pain!"

A caramel colored adolescent lioness close to the other's age nodded in agreement. "I know how you feel!" she said. "My little brother never leaves me alone unless he's with Chumvi's!"

A reddish brown lion, also of similar age, appeared out of nowhere, approaching the two lionesses. "What'd you say about me, Kula? I heard my name."

Kula snorted in response. "I was talking about your brother, Somo."

"What about him?" Chumvi asked, obviously unaware. He looked across the area from left to right. "Where is he? Did he do something again?"

"Not _your_ brother," the light tan lioness said. "_Mine_."

Chumvi snickered. "What did Mheetu do this time, Nala?"

Nala rubbed her side where Mheetu had tackled her. "He was practicing his 'hunting' skills and got me in the side."

Kula scoffed. "As if he had any skills! He's just a cub! And a male too!"

"What's wrong with us males?" Chumvi asked, pretending to be offended.

"You _males_ are all so lazy!" Kula said.

The red-brown lion feigned a hurt expression and put a paw over his heart. "Ouch, Kula. That hurts."

"Well, it _is_ true," Nala teased. "You boys never do the hunting. You just lounge around all day."

"Says the lioness who hasn't gone on her first hunt yet," muttered Chumvi. The reddish brown lion suddenly found himself pinned to the ground with a bared set of teeth in his face.

"What was that now?" Nala asked menacingly.

"I—uh..."

"Humph!" the tan lioness said. She got off the lion and sat back down. "Next time you'll watch what you say, _cub_."

At this comment, Chumvi seemed to be truly hurt. "I'm not a cub!" he protested. The lion pointed to a patch of brown fur on his chest. "My mane's already growing in! Besides, Simba's more of a cub than any of us!"

Kula nodded in agreement. "Ugh! I know! He's so immature! I can't believe he's going to be king!" She turned to Nala. Smirking, she said, "I can't believe what you ever saw in him."

Nala's jaw dropped at the comment. She quickly recomposed herself and said, "I don't even know what you're talking about.

Chumvi, now having recovered from the humiliation of having been pinned by a lioness, bounded up to the two. "I don't see why you try to deny it," he teased. "Everyone knew you had a thing for him."

Nala slapped a patch of dirt into Chumvi's face, causing him to sputter. "It was just a stupid cubby crush! We're practically fully grown lions now!"

"So you admit it!" the lion said.

Nala rolled her eyes and raised a paw against him. He yelped and fled from the lioness in fear. "That was a long time ago. It doesn't matter anymore. That was in the past." Moments later, she added, "Besides, it's not like I really talk to him anymore."

Eyebrows raised, Kula said, "Isn't that a bit harsh? He _was _your best friend."

"Yeah, Nala," Chumvi called from a short distance. "You guys did everything together."

The tan lioness sighed again and shrugged. "I just grew up," she said. _And he never did_, her thoughts finished. After a few moments, the adolescent rose and said, "Come on. I need to go find my brother. I'm supposed to be looking after him."

Kula got up as well and Chumvi followed suit. Together, the three friends walked around, searching for the little tan cub that could have been anywhere.

* * *

Mheetu dragged himself across the Pridelands, looking for anything that might seem fun. But there was none. And he had been looking for forever. There was nothing to do and he had no friends to play with. Yahe, Kula's brother, and Somo never include him in their games, so the only ones he could play with were his mother and sister. "But it's not like she's gonna play with me," Mheetu said dejectedly.

Sighing, the lonely cub sat himself on a small rock jutting slightly from the ground. He scanned the horizon, eyes lazily glancing at the various animals. Giraffes were grazing to the far left and a herd of antelopes to his right. Far in front of him was a large, rocky area where some rhinos were.

Mheetu sighed again and began to study the rocky formation. The large stones were uniform in shape and color. There was nothing unusual or interesting about them. Suddenly, the cub noticed some slight movement at the top of the rocks. He squinted and could barely make out the shape of some predator.

Curious, Mheetu crept closer to the rocks to get a better look. Upon further inspection, the thing he had spotted was a lion. The tan cub could make out the beginnings of a red mane, coupled with golden fur. "Isn't that...the prince?"

Mheetu gazed up at the adolescent, wondering what the prince was going to do. The lion carefully stalked down the rock and began to sneak up to one of the rhinos. Without thinking, Mheetu opened his mouth and shouted, "Hey! What are you—"

The rhinos looked up from what they were doing and at the cub. The prince quickly brought a paw digit up to his lips to signal the cub to be quiet. Mheetu nodded slightly with some understanding and hesitantly said, "Uh, never mind!"

The rhinos went back to their business and Mheetu retreated to a safer spot where he wouldn't be in the way, but could still see. Just as he settle in his spot, the tan cub watched the golden prince rear back with paws raised and claws extended and dig into one of the rhinos' sides. The affected rhino immediately cried out at the sudden stab in his flank. It brought up its front legs slammed its hooves down on the ground. Suddenly, it began to charge forward. The surrounding rhinos followed the one's reaction and began their charge.

Mheetu's eyes lit up in amusement. He caused a stampede! he thought. The sound of hooves meeting hard ground drowned everything else out as the tan cub watched the rhinos freak out. Then something occurred to him. Where's the prince?

Mheetu began scanning the ground for any traces of the golden lion, but the rhinos were kicking up too much dirt in the commotion. A seed of worry planted itself in the cub's gut. _He has to be somewhere! He can't be d—_

"Just tell me that wasn't awesome!" a voice shouted behind him.

Mheetu whirled around to see the prince standing safely behind him. "Y-you're alive!" he shouted incredulously. "You're actually alive!"

The prince looked down at the cub cockily with an eyebrow raised. "'Course I am!" he scoffed. "This isn't my first time doing it."

The tan cub's eyes widened more. "Really?! You've done this before?!"

"Well, that is what 'not the first time means'."

"That's so cool!"

The golden prince smirked and rubbed his paw digits across his chest. "What can I say? I'm the best!"

Mheetu quickly nodded in agreement. "Could you teach me how to do that?!"

Caught off-guard, the adolescent hesitantly replied, "Uh...sure?"

The small cub exploded in a mixture of happiness and excitement. "Awesome!" he cheered. "So when do we start?!"

"Woah! Easy there," the prince said. "You're gonna need to learn the basics first."

"Oh," Mheetu said, his eagerness dying slightly. "So does that mean you'll be like my teacher or something?"

The lion shrugged. "I guess so, if you want to put it that way."

"Sweet!" The cub danced a short victory jig , causing him to get a weird look. Mheetu stopped for a moment to ask something. "Should I call you 'Master' or something from now on then?"

The lion chuckled uncertainly. "I don't really think I like the sound of that..."

"Then what should I call you?"

The prince put his paw on Mheetu's shoulder and said, "How about you just call me 'Simba', okay?"

"Okay!" the cub agreed. "So what's our first lesson?!"

Simba smiled mischievously and brought his new protégé closer. "So here's what we'll do..."


End file.
